Saluting tube



y 1943- A. A. CAMPBELL 2,323,306

SALUTING TUBE Filed Aug. 6, 1940 Fi E INVENTOR Alvin A- cum hell BY Z Q/QMMX yw/v/ zm ATTORNEY Patented July 6, 1943 NITED STATES PATEN'i" FFECE (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) 2 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

The subject of this invention is a saluting tube.

Blank ammunition employed for saluting and in maneuvers is usually of the caliber of the weapon that is being used and is designed to produce the same intensity of sound as the live ammunition. With a view to effecting a substantial saving in the cost of ammunition it is proposed to provide a constricted saluting tube which is arranged to fire a standard shot gun shell and simulate the sound produced by a standard blank round for a 3-inch gun.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a longitudinal sectional view of a saluting tube constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View of the breech end of the tube;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing by characters of reference, there is shown a saluting tube 5 having an axiai bore comprising, from breech to muzzle, a cartridge chamber 8, a forwardly converging chamber 7, a cylindrical chamber 8, and a forwardly diverging or flared chamber 9.

The chamber 6 is adapted to receive a blank shot gun cartridge ID, of 8 or 10 gage, containing three or more hard felt wads l i, preferably staked together, and a charge E2 of black powder. This charge will ordinarily be about two and one-half times the weight of the charge in a live shot gun shell.

The purpose of the chamber '1 is to gradually compress the wads and delay their forward passage in order to permit the building up of pressure on combustion of the charge l2 of black powder. The length of the converging chamber 1 may be varied according to the dimensions of the barrel and the nature of the cartridge. Excellent results are obtained when this chamber has a length of three to six times the diameter of the wad or the cartridge chamber.

The cylindrical chamber 8 has a length approximately sixteen times the diameter of its bore and the diameter of its bore is approximately fifteen per cent less than the diameter of the chamber 6. The restricted chamber 8 serves for storing up energy over a period of time so that more energy may be released at a given instant.

The flared chamber 9 permits the rapid and unopposed passage of the wads after passing through the chamber 8 and controls the release of pressure. Since sound waves are pressure wave the intensity of sound depends upon the manner in which the pressure builds up and dies down and upon the amount of pressure. When the tube 5 is placed within a larger barrel in the manner of a sub-caliber tube, the wall of the chamber 9 prevents absorption of sound by the larger barrel.

I claim:

1. A saluting tube comprising a cartridge chamber, and a bore comprising, exclusive of the cartridge chamber, three differentiated merging chambers as follows: a chamber converging forward from the cartridge chamber; an intermediate cylindrical chamber, and a chamber diverging from the cylindrical chamber and extending to the end of the tube.

2. A saluting tube having a cartridge chamber and a bore comprising, exclusive of the cartridge chamber, three differentiated merging chambers as follows: a chamber forwardly converging from the cartridge chamber, an intermediate cylindrical chamber, and a chamber diverging from the cylindrical chamber and extending to the end of the tube, the chamber adjoining the cartridge chamber having a length approximately six times the diameter of the cartridge chamber, the cylindrical chamber having a length approximately sixteen times the diameter of its bore, said bore diameter being approximately fifteen per cent less than the diameter of the cartridge chamber, the divergence of the discharge chamber being to facilitate the passage of wads after passing through the cylindrical chamber.

ALVIN A. CAMPBELL. 

